Hasta La Ideas

Large-scale mosaic sculptures celebrate years of design collaboration

On the occasion of Milan’s ongoing Design Week, Bisazza pays homage to Alessandro Mendini with an exhibition at La Triennale di Milano. In celebration of more than twenty years of collaboration between the Italian mosaic tile company and the design master, the display features large-size works and installations from the Fondazione Bisazza and a loan from the Fondation Cartier in Paris.

Over the years, Bisazza and Alessandro Mendini have shared a creative dialogue stemming from a cultural and aesthetic affinity that have resulted in several works of art and installations. Curated and designed by Atelier Mendini, the more than 400-square-meter exhibit gathers iconic and gigantic sculptures, mostly covered with golden mosaic.

On the occasion of the exhibition, the book “Mosaico Mendini,” written by Stefano Casciani and published by Skira Editore, has been launched. The volume aims to trace all works designed by Mendini with Bisazza mosaics, including those commissioned by others, such as the Torre del Paradiso (Tower of Paradise) of Hiroshima, the Groninger Museum, and the metro lines in Naples.

See more of the stunning mosaic sculptures in the gallery below.

A must visit design event in beautiful city of milan – with hundreds of designer and exhibitions. Find here our list of the HOTSPOTS
Including iPhone..

Street artists reinterpret photographs that captured their own history

A major part of the early graffiti scene, photojournalist Martha Cooper is now on the other end of lens as the focus of a new exhibition at L.A.’s Carmichael Gallery. “Martha Cooper: Remix” sees over 50 artists recreate their favorite images by the ever-present documentarian, including works by Lady Pink, Faust, Neck Face, Fumakaka (all pictured here) and more.

Cooper has been compulsively documenting street culture since the late ’70s, when she began photographing the kids she would see on her way home from working at the New York Post. Her valuable insight on the medium is seen both in the images themselves, as well as the educational book “Subway Art” that she co-authored with fellow photographer Henry Chalfant.

“Remix” underscores MoCA‘s highly anticipated “Art In The Streets” exhibition, where Cooper’s works will also be on display. When asked to have a show coinciding with MoCA’s, Cooper says she “thought it would be fun to have a sort of retrospective including artists I had had some kind of relationship with over the years. I asked artists to pick any of my photos they liked to work from and the show ranges from a shot of a tattooed woman I took in Japan in 1970 that Aiko chose to a shot from Baltimore from 2010 that Blanco picked. That’s 40 years!”

Cooper continues, saying “I prefer to think of the show as a ‘Martha Loves Graf and Street Artists’ than the reverse. In any case I’m happy about the show. Contacting the artists and collecting the work from them in person whenever I could enabled me to reconnect with some artists that I don’t get a chance to see as much as I would like.”

“Martha Cooper: Remix” opens 9 April 2011 and runs through 7 May 2011 at Carmichael Gallery. The massive “Art In The Streets” exhibition at MoCA—which will also give a special nod to L.A. with Californian cholo writing, Dogtown skate culture and local artists like Craig R. Stecyk III, Retna, Saber and Mister Cartoon—runs from 17 April to 9 August 2011.

From post-apocalyptic imagery to pop culture references, two painters explore a single theme

When close friends Casey Diebold and Adam Devarney both graduated from Pratt University their journeys as artists naturally took them to very different places. Devarney returned to the serenity of his native Burlington, VT, while Diebold stayed in Brooklyn to work as a commercial storyboard artist. Their diverging paths have finally crossed again in the form of “Godspeed,” a collaborative exhibition opening 9 April 2010 at NYC’s Sacred Gallery.

The loose concept comes from Devarney’s suggestion of the phrase “God Speed”—a term that allows for their their work to be comfortably contained under one main theme, as well as individual interpretations. While Diebold played off the term more literally, depicting ungodly speeds and high-powered action, Devarney saw “Godspeed” as the loose English translation of the French salutation, bon voyage.

Heavily influenced by skateboard culture and ’80s illustration, Devarney’s work mixes mediums, styles and aesthetics. “I am excited by the idea of taking things out of context and re-purposing them, the chemistry interests me,” he explains. Working with wood panels, Devarney explores voyaging characters on the brink of self-destruction. His paintings follow the “vagabonds of the great beyond,” who are fighting the inertia of their movement.

The past might inform the resulting anachronistic portraits, but they’re firmly in the future. Delvarney says, “my work in this show comes from a soulful place. I am exploring characters, weary and worn down, voyagers who have been pushed to the limit. That is something everyone can relate to.” While Devarney’s stoic aviators put the viewer on edge, Diebold captures cinematic realism in incredible detail at frightening speeds.

Diebold creates surreal graphics with dizzying movement and beautiful texture, an approach he says is informed by his “fascination with future dystopian culture and science fiction like ‘Logan’s Run,’ or fictional gang movies like ‘The Warriors.'” His love of films shows in the multiple layers of allusion in his work, from Alex Cox
to George Miller. His choice to depict the action at a particular moment in the narrative forces viewers to think of the infinite possibilities, creating a dreamlike effect.

“Godspeed” opens at Sacred Gallery this Saturday, 9 April 2010, and runs through 30 April 2010.

Here are some pictures of 6a Architects‘ exhibition design for Wim Crouwel – A Graphic Odyssey, on show at the Design Museum in London.

Original sketches, posters, catalogues and archive photography plus film and video are displayed along a 20 meter-long white table.

The show presents work spanning 60 years of the Dutch graphic designer’s career including the identity he created for the Stedelijk Museum from 1967 onwards, the New Alphabet typeface from 1967 and Dutch postal stamps that were in circulation 1976–2002.

The exhibition continues until 3 July.

More about 6a Architects on Dezeen »
More about the Design Museum on Dezeen »

Here are some more details from the architects:

Wim Crouwel A graphic odyssey Design Museum

The Design Museum celebrates the prolific career of the Dutch graphic designer Wim Crouwel in this his first UK retrospective. Regarded as one of the leading designers of the twentieth century, Crouwel embraced a new modernity to produce typographic designs that captured the essence of the emerging computer and space age of the early 1960s. This exhibition, spanning over 60 years, will cover Crouwelʼs rigorous design approach and key moments in his career including his work for design practice ʻTotal Designʼ, the identity for the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, as well as his iconic poster, print, typography and lesser known exhibition design. The exhibition will also highlight Crouwelʼs rigorous design approach exploring his innovative use of grid-based layouts and typographic systems to produce consistently striking asymmetric visuals.

Original sketches, posters, catalogues and archive photography will be on display alongside films and audio commentary. In addition to celebrating Crouwelʼs career this exhibition will also explore his legacy and influence on contemporary graphic design with commentary from leading industry figures including Peter Saville and Stefan Sagmeister.

Designed by 6a Architects, in collaboration with graphic designers Spin, the exhibition creates a subtle backdrop to Crouwelʼs vivid works. The gallery was stripped back and opened up, allowing a twenty-metre long white table into the space. Exhibits are arranged across its surface, a figurative white page to the exhibitsʼ colourful intensity. Visitors move around, through and in-between its openings, reminiscent of Crouwelʼs fondness for three dimensional space in a two dimensional design. Crouwelʼs own commentaries explain the works, punctuated with striking portraits of the designer across the decades. The simple, paired down design reveals Crouwelʼs surprising tactility, a digital designer working in the analogue age.

Exhibition Design by 6a Architects. Exhibition graphics by Spin.

See also:

.

South London Gallery extension by 6A Architects	Raven Row by 6a Architects	More Exhibitions